Captain Ahab

I shake Ishmael's hand. "I'm Caleb."

"And I'm Tashtego." Nemo says.

I am about the ask Nemo why she is using a different name when a tall woman with white hair and a prosthetic leg made of whalebone approaches.

She has a scar on the left side of her face, running down her eye and her cheek, reaching her chin. "You must be the new recruits. I am Captain Ahab."

"We're not joining you. I am here to warn you that chasing Moby Dick is going to get your crew killed." I say.

"There is also the danger that you might drive the whale into London. That would be disastrous." Nemo says.

Behind Ahab stands a Persee woman with braided white hair coiled under a white turban. The rest of her clothes are black. "Do not worry about London. It is not fated to die this day."

"Who are you?" I ask.

"They call me Fedallah. And I am fated to die before Captain Ahab." the woman says.

"Fate?" I ask.

"Yes. Fate decides everything. For example Captain Ahab is fated to be drowned when her own harpoon line wraps round her neck and drags her off the boat. The cabin girl, Pip, is fated to go mad after jumping from the deck of the ship. Ishmael is fated to be flogged for trying to sabotage the ship in a futile attempt to end this quest for the whale. You and Ishmael are also the only ones fated to survive this voyage." Fedallah says.

These are things that happened in the novel, Moby Dick. Except the flogging.

I don't remember Ishmael being flogged. I thin some nameless sailor might have been. "Even if London isn't destroyed, almost your entire crew will die."

"That whale is responsible for everything that went wrong in my life. It killed my father and grandfather, scarred my face and cut off my leg." Ahab says. I actually don't think the scarring looks too bad. "We set sail."

I have **** but to go below deck with Nemo and Ishmael. "Really, Tashtego?"

"It's a common Indian name." Nemo says. It seems she has confused native Americans with Indians.

"Native American name." I say.